Hey.. I am having some major problems creating normal maps in Zbrush and then rendering them in Maya. So far it looks pretty crappy and broken up so I am thinking of just rendering my character in Zbrush. Does anyone know of a good tutorial or process for this? I can't figure out rendering in Zbrush because when I click on Render nothing even happens. I'm sure there's a simple explanation for this but I haven't been able to find out anything yet.

Here is the thread of my character in Zbrush and Maya if you are interested.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=288978

If you have anymore questions about my workflow that could possibly help I'm happy to give more details.

Thanks a lot.

mister3d

11-03-2005, 04:21 AM

what do you mean broken?are you sure your import/export is correct?

valri22

11-03-2005, 05:53 AM

Well when I render out the maps the seams are quite visible and seem to be in a lot of place, even where there aren't actually seems. I think it might have more to do with issues in Maya because I have been looking at other normal maps and they look pretty similar.

ryankingslien

11-04-2005, 05:05 PM

Valri_22: You are always rendering in ZBrush. The render button is only to update the render if you are using Best render.

ZBrush is always rendering. As a paint package is has the equivelent of a real-time render engine used in games.

There are four types of rendering available:
Preview (default)
Best (renders shadows, cavity effects, complex material effects)
Fast (used for speeding up and mostly while modeling)
Flat (ignores all lighting information and renders everything as though it was incandescent)

To render your own model in ZBrush you:
first establish a material that simulates the look you are going for.
Position your model
Press Best render
make sure you click Shadows, Soft RGB, and SoftZ in the Render palette
Set up your lights and shadows
Export your document from the Document palette

For more information I would check out ZBrushCentral and do a search for Rendering or Materials or Render Settings. Also, check out Meat's DVDs. Good stuff! Good luck! :)

Best,

Ryan

valri22

11-04-2005, 05:06 PM

Thanks a lot Ryan that information is very helpful =)

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